South Bucks District Council Cabinet 9 th Feb 2010

Transcription

1 SUBJECT: Performance Management Quarterly Report: December 2009 REPORT OF: Chief Executive 1. Purpose of Report The purpose of this report is to outline the performance of Council services against national and local indicators and service objectives during April December Links to Council Policy Objectives Effective performance monitoring underpins our progress towards all five Council Aims and reflects our management principle to deliver value for money and a lean organisation. It is important that we are able to demonstrate a record of achievement, both in terms of quality of service and continuous improvement. 3. Background Management Team, Cabinet, Council and Overview & Scrutiny Committee receive regular updates discussing our progress towards service plan objectives, performance targets, and key service risks; this is in line with our Performance and Improvement Framework. A monitoring report containing budget, performance and activity information also goes to management team and informal cabinet on a monthly basis. 4. Proposal/Discussion 4.1 Performance Management across the Council April December 2009 Performance of the council s priority performance indicators is summarised on the following pages, further details of these priority indicators can be found in Appendix A Areas Where Priority Performance Indicators are Achieving Targets BV9 The percentage of Council Tax collected is well above the 73.7% target for 9 months at 85.9%, this is only slightly lower than last year s collection rate at this stage of 86.1%. BV10 The percentage of non-domestic rates collected is 88.1%, above the 9 month target of 74.1%, and is now back in line with last year s collection rate as it was behind last quarter. NI16a The number of domestic burglaries per 1,000 households has risen slightly since quarter 2 but is still within target at a rate of 18.7 against a target of The Community team continue to roll out preventative measures to tackle domestic burglaries including No Door Step Selling Zones and property marking using Selecta DNA. NI16b The number of robberies per 1,000 of the population is currently within target at 0.84 against a target of NI 16c Theft of vehicle incidents per 1,000 of the population is currently 2.41 against a target of 3.39, for the first 9 months of 2009 there have been 117 incidents compared to 175 incidents for the same period in NI157c the processing of other planning applications is being maintained above target at 97.04% against a target of 95%, however performance has fallen behind target for processing major and minor applications. 1

2 4.1.2 Areas Where Performance Targets are not being achieved NI16 - The number of serious acquisitive crimes per 1,000 of the population is currently just off target at against a target of 24.24, this is still lower than the figure for the same period last year which was Overall there have been 1246 serious acquisitive crimes for the first 9 months of the year compared to 1456 for the same period last year. Looking at the breakdown within this indicator theft from a vehicle is the area which remain off target. The rate of theft from vehicle incidents is against a target of with 707 incidents of theft from a vehicle in the first 9 months of the year. In January a new scheme will be launched to tackle this type of crime which will ensure that residents who leave items on display, particularly in hot spot areas, will receive a personal and specific letter which will detail items left on display. BV213 The number of households where homelessness is prevented is currently 25 which is below the 9 month target of NI156 - The number of households living in temporary accommodation at the end of December was just off target at 11 households against a target of 10, this is an improvement from last quarter when 17 households were living in temporary accommodation. One of the reasons this indicator missed its target last quarter was because households were not bidding using Bucks Home Choice because they were waiting for a desirable property, move on accommodation has now been identified which has resulted in a reduction in the figure. BV12 The average number of working days lost due to sickness absence is continuing to remain high at 10.8 days against a target of 7.5 days. There are a number of cases of long term sickness which are affecting the total. BV78a & BV78b BV78a: the speed of processing new housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB) claims is improving and is now just off target at 19.6 days against a target of 19, BV78b: the speed of processing changes of circumstances for housing benefit and council tax benefit is also improving at 8.9 days against a target of 8 and for the month of December it took 6.63 days to process change of circumstances. The graph below shows that performance has been improving and Revenues and Benefits expect these figures to continue to improve throughout the year Speed of Proc essing new HB/CTB claims changes of circumstances for HB/CTB 25 Days Apr-08 May-08 Jun-08 Jul-08 Aug-08 Sep-08 Oct-08 Nov-08 Dec-08 Jan-09 Feb-09 Mar-09 Apr-09 May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09 Aug-09 Sep-09 Oct-09 Nov-09 Dec Economic Activity Indicators This section provides an overview of the economic activity indicators which the Council are monitoring. The number of enquiries received by the CAB relating to benefits, debt and housing has remained relatively steady and over the first 8 months of the year there have been 868 enquiries, this is higher than the same period last year. In the first half of this year there have been 53 homelessness applications and 21 homelessness preventions. The job seekers 2

3 allowance claimant count for South Bucks has been decreasing for the last 8 months and is currently at 698 after a high of 799 in May 09, the number of vacancies notified to the job centre in December was 179 which is a drop from October and November when there were over 290 vacancies notified. The council tax benefit and housing benefit claims received a month has increased by over 9% in the last year from 2941 claims in December 08 to 3213 claims in December 09. Speed of processing claims has seen an improvement over the last year particularly for new claims which has improved from 25.9 days in December 08 to 19.6 days in December 09. The total number of crimes recorded in the district for December was 450, the highest amount this year for South Bucks was 551 crimes recorded in October. The number of planning applications the council received has dropped slightly from 1,373 for the first nine months of last year to 1,230 applications received for the same period this year, a reduction of 10% Overview of Performance and service objectives across the council The following section provides an overview of performance and progress with annual key service objectives across the Council. Service areas report their progress against key improvement actions for their areas on a quarterly basis through the Covalent Performance Management System Overview of Performance in the Leader s Portfolio The Corporate Support team continue to administer the Council s CRB Policy and work is currently being carried out with Personnel to highlight which positions will require Vetting & Barring status. For the first 9 months of this year 166 umbrella checks have been undertaken which the Council receives income for. This compares to 122 checks for the same period last year. The Chairman s Volunteering Reception has now taken place and was well received, work is now in progress for the Annual Reception to be held in February. The annual mystery shopping wave has just been carried out and the results are currently being analysed. Electoral services have started to carry out publicity for rolling registration and voting for the General Election. The team have commenced quality checking of all current absent votes and letters are being sent to all households confirming registration details and absent voting details. In January the team provided a detailed Presiding Officer training session to ensure that new presiding officers have the right skills needed for the next election, this should help to ensure that the polling offices run smoothly on the day. Within Policy and Performance the new Value for Money Profiles have been produced which will be sent to Resources PAG for review. An ACORN 1 presentation was delivered to Senior Managers to encourage Service Managers to use the customer profiling software to gain an improved understanding of those who use and those who do not use their services, a presentation will also be delivered to Cabinet in February. The team are also working with Bucks Fire and Rescue to look at combining and mapping the Vulnerable Locality Index work the fire service has produced with the ACORN profiles to gain a better understanding of vulnerable communities in South Bucks. The new Sustainable Community Strategy was published in November and the South Bucks Partnership is now working on how best to deliver the new strategy. New sub-groups are being established to help with the delivery of each of the themes. A self-assessment of the Partnership has been undertaken resulting in a successful bid for funding to run 6 workshops facilitated by Shared Intelligence. CAA ratings have been received and South Bucks achieved a score of 2 (performs adequately) for Managing Performance. The Personnel & Training team has now carried out the annual Staff Survey and the report and statistics will be sent to Personnel Committee at the end of January, analysis of results and a follow up Action Plan will then be developed. Further work is being undertaken for 1 ACORN is a geodemographic tool used to identify and understand the UK population and the demand for products & services 3

4 Investors in People and the review is due in the first quarter of Ongoing work is taking place to ensure that all Personnel policies and procedures are being reviewed and updated as required Overview of Performance in the Resources Portfolio The Corporate Information Management officer has been continuing to carry out awareness training on data handling with all staff through training sessions and articles in the Grapevine. A meeting has taken place with a software provider alongside Chiltern to look at a software solution to minimise the amount of manual handling of information requests in this area. Over the last couple of years there has been an increasing number of Freedom of Information requests coming through to the Corporate Information Management officer, in the first 9 months of the year 172 requests have been received compared to 105 for the same period last year, cumulatively for the year 91% of responses have been sent within 20 working days. Within Democratic Services all agendas and minutes are now being produced and web published via moden.gov. Some remaining issues regarding publishing decision and internal viewing via the intranet are still being reviewed. Legal Services continue their supporting role to front line services with the majority of work mainly around planning, licensing and property contracts. The team continue to meet local performance indicators on client satisfaction and 100% of survey returns so far this year have stated they are satisfied or very satisfied with the service provided. Financial Services have received tenders back for the Insurance contract and a report is being prepared for Cabinet in February to recommend which insurer to appoint. The results from the CAA Use of Resources assessment have been received and South Bucks achieved a level 2 meets minimum requirements, which is in line with most district Councils. The new South Bucks District Council website is now live and website migration has now been completed. Members and meeting information is now supplied via modern.gov. A website survey is to be undertaken in 2010 after the new website is stable, there will also be an internal survey and a review of the Intranet functionality and design. The team continue to ensure that web requests are actioned promptly, during the recent bad weather priority was given to providing regular updates on refuse collection on the Council s home page. ICT are continually looking to increase the use of GIS and spatial information and functionality, the team are looking to publish captured GIS data but are currently awaiting information from planning admin so this is likely to be after March Looking at the Steria contract, service continues to be maintained with 99.95% of overall calls fixed within the Service Level Agreement and the Council s critical IT servers were available for 100% of contracted hours Overview of Performance in the Deputy Leader/Sustainable Development Portfolio Work on sustainability and carbon footprint reduction for the council is being led by the Planning Policy team. Members agreed the BSP funding plan proposals for delivering the improvements for NI 185 (CO2 reduction from local authority operations) at the December Sustainable Development PAG. Projects within the carbon reduction action plan are now being implemented, with some year 3 projects being implemented earlier than planned in year 2 of the Local Area Agreement. The Farnham Royal character appraisal was adopted by Council on 19 th January 2010, this now means that there are 19 Conservation Areas in South Bucks, 42% of which have had a recent character appraisal undertaken. Preparatory work is now underway on the Stoke Poges character appraisal. Within Development Management the team has now almost completed the back scanning of planning application files and new applications are being scanned as they are received, the team are currently awaiting external supplier to resolve issues and then these back scanned files will be put on Public Access. Benchmarking and analysis has been undertaken for the Development Control service and they continue to use feedback from forms sent to applicants, agents and other service users to enhance the service. The processing of major 4

5 and minor planning applications has fallen against target and the amount of planning appeals allowed is also currently off target. Building Control has recently updated information on the website and amendments are made when legislation dictates, some additions are required to the access for the disabled pages. From April to December 21.75% of applications have come in on line, this now includes initial notices which are acceptable as on line applications. Since the start of the year the team are managing to process 100% of applications received within 10 working days. Building Control are currently exploring the possibility of focus groups seminars to improve the Building Control service it is likely these will take place around the Easter period, feedback received from the previous seminar was positive and encouraging and helped to improve the service Overview of Performance in the Local Development Framework Panel Planning Policy submitted the Annual Monitoring Report to Government Office South East (GOSE) by the end of December. The draft core strategy has now been produced and is almost finalised and was sent to the LDF Panel on 28 th January, this will then go to Cabinet and Council in February. The team aim to produce a new Local Development Scheme before the Core Strategy is submitted, this scheme should be completed by July 2010 at the latest. The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment is now complete, some maps need updating and the assessment should be put on the Council s website by mid February at the latest. Other areas of work underway include the Employment Land Work which is currently being prepared in house, consultants are also due to finalise the Settlement character study by the end of February. Atkins are now undertaking further work on the Transport Evaluation study and have provided initial findings, this work is due to be completed by the end of February Overview of Performance in the Environment Portfolio Within the Environmental Improvements area three lottery funded play areas have now been completed. There is another playground project which will be undertaken with Government Playbuilder funding for 3 more playgrounds over the next 14 months. The project board for the refuse, recycling and street cleaning contract continue to meet every 4 months and a new communications campaign has been agreed. The board have also undertaken a review of litter crews and subsequent actions to improve efficiency and effectiveness have been put in place following the review. The Waste and Recycling team continue to review website pages regularly and during the inclement weather daily updates were posted on the website regarding waste and recycling collections. In December 33.78% of household waste was recycled or composted, this still met the target but dipped slightly from the previous month as a result of disruptions to collections due to bad weather at the end of December and also the change to collection days over the Christmas period (with some households forgetting to put out their bin for collection). The grounds maintenance contract has been re-tendered and the contract is due to be signed shortly and will begin on 1 st April as planned. Within Land Charges 99.1% of standard searches have been carried out within 5 working days exceeding the target of 95%. The team continue to meet customer demands on personal searches, including provision of tailored reports for access to property information. Spare resource from the reduced number of searches requested has been utilised to prepare for an electronic service Overview of Performance in the Community Portfolio The Communities and Partnerships team have completed a review of partnerships and a report has been taken to Management Team. The team continue to support the Citizens Advice Bureau and Voluntary Impact and these contracts are continuing to achieve their targets. The team are continuing to process and monitor grants in line with Compact targets 5

6 and this years Subscriptions and Donations grants have been promoted and applications invited by the 19 th January. A new Have your Say leaflet has been produced and additional information is being included in the South Bucks Report. Culture & Youth Services have met their target of increasing the number of projects undertaken during 2009/10 for teenagers by 3%, projects such as design a hoodie which engaged with some of the hardest to reach groups, have been a great success. The percentage of young people participating in holiday activities throughout the year has significantly increased and in some cases numbers have nearly doubled. The latest results for the Active People Survey which looks at adult participation in sport and active recreation have shown a steady continual increase and we are still on target to achieve the long term target. Due to staff changes the ISO 9001 accreditation for leisure centre monitoring will remain on hold, new staff will need to be trained up before this can be actioned. The number of visits by elderly people (60+) to leisure clubs/sessions is just below target for the year with 792 visits up to December this year. The number of visits by participants with disabilities to leisure courses is meeting its target, as well as the multi-sports club that covers ages 7-17 years old there is also an adults disability club at the Evreham Sports Centre which mirrors the junior model by catering for both learning and physical disabilities at all levels. Work is continuing within Community Safety to reduce domestic burglary. At the beginning of January the number of burglaries for the year to date is 381 compared to 408 in the baseline year, this is a reduction of 6.6% but is below the targeted reduction of 10%. The focus is currently on theft from motor vehicles as for the last couple of months there have been ongoing high number of theft from vehicles. A scheme is starting in January to contact every owner directly with advice when vehicles are seen with items on display. The owners of car parks in hot spot locations are also being contacted to encourage them to do more and this will be followed up with a site visit. Work is continuing around Anti-Social Behaviour and the police ran Operation Confidence to increase support for victims of Anti-social behaviour, the home office has provided 40,000 to the county to increase provision of support to victims. The team continue to work to promote awareness of the South Bucks Community Safety Partnership and bids have been submitted for a new vehicle and road side signage and boards to promote the work that the partnership does Overview of Performance in the Health & Housing Portfolio Within Environmental Health work is continuing on improving communication and questionnaires have been redesigned to be consistent across the unit. The team are managing to meet all their targets, 100% of all annual food hygiene inspections due have been carried out (122 inspections) and 100% of all routine public requests have received a response within 4 days (87 requests). The team continue to maintain inspections of premises for the smoking ban and figures have been provided to Smoke Free England, there have been few infringements or complaints and no enforcement action so far this year. Within Housing regular contract monitoring meetings are taking place to ensure the homelessness, housing advice and housing register contract is delivered. The team are looking to review the Housing Strategy and are planning to hold an open day in May 2010 with a view to launching a new Housing Strategy in Autumn Analysis of applications and success rates for the Choice Based Lettings process that was launched in 2009 is starting to take place. Licensing have now had the Gambling Policy adopted by Full Council and the review of Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Policy will take place in 2010 once the Department for Transport guidance is received. The team continue to attend Neighbourhood Actions Groups and Pubwatch meetings when required to provide support. A drugs training presentation was given to Members of the Full Licensing Committee in November to raise their awareness of issues relating to licensed premises. Drugs training has also been rolled out to all licensees that are members of the Pubwatch Scheme within the District in the run up to Christmas, this training was well received and Licensees felt supported. Partnership working has been completed with Buckinghamshire Fire Authority with regard to the roll out of a presentation to village halls / school halls in relation to Licensing and Fire Safety Issues and monthly 6

7 meetings are taking place with Thames Valley Police in relation to our Licensed Premises. The team also have a project scheduled for April 2010 to work with Environmental Health in relation to Noise Action Week. More information on each of the actions being undertaken within each service area can be found on the Council s intranet underneath Performance Reports on the A-Z within Appendix C Performance Monitoring of Service Actions (December 2009 quarterly report). 4.4 Overview of Risks This final section will discuss key operational risks put forward by management team indicating what has been done this quarter to mitigate them, their likelihood and the level of threat they pose. Maintaining progress with LDF SR04 Local Development Framework (LDF) does not adequately support the Council s aims A major project that will span many years aims to plan for a thriving and sustainable District which protects the Green Belt and promotes appropriate development consistent with keeping the character and space for everyone to enjoy. Continue to properly resource LDF process and work to achieve project plan. Map linkage between LDF and Council aims. The Core Strategy Emerging Approach document has recently been subject to public consultation and the responses received have now been summarised and analysed. The Core Strategy is expected to be published by Easter and then submitted for examination next year. The Core Strategy set out the Council s intended strategic direction on a range of social, environmental and economic matters. Impact on Corporate objective: a thriving and sustainable District Confused strategic direction Catastrophic Demonstrating progress on sustainability and carbon reduction PP19 External funding not forthcoming to enable progress to be made on reducing the carbon footprint in the District Council s area. The way we live impacts on the global environment, and these effects are far reaching. Climate change in particular could be catastrophic. Unmitigated environmental damage is a costly option and represents an environmental, social and economic challenge as well as one connected with Local Authorities reputation. A baseline for Council premises and transport emissions data, together with relevant information from contractors carrying out a function of the local authority, has been calculated under NI 185. From this baseline, the Council, as part of the LAA agreement to 2012, are required to reduce CO2 reductions from its operations by 2% per annum over the next 2 years. Action plan from Carbon Trust approved by members, authority on track to deliver target reductions. Further emissions reductions work on C02 reductions is plannedsee sustainable development portfolio. Loss of funding for additional emissions reductions work, may mean not achieving LAA target of 4% C02 emissions reductions by Not achieving the LAA target would risk the Council and Partners not receiving LAA funding at 2012, as targets would not be reached Increasing C02 emissions from local authority operations Damage to reputation of the local authority Inconvenience 7

8 Data handling and security OR 04 Losing or releasing sensitive data and that impacting on Local Authorities reputation Maintaining data quality best practice is a key requirement for the correct management and monitoring of performance and gathering of accurate information. The Annual Audit and Inspection Letter from the Audit Commission gave a very positive view of the Council s performance and improvement over the last year. A data quality audit of all annual figures published in the 2008/09 Annual Report has taken place and Data Handling training for all personnel is underway via the Corporate Information Management Officer. A review of job descriptions is also in motion highlighting those roles where data quality best practice is most important to ensure adequate training is provided. Guidance is being issued on Data Security and Acceptable use policy for staff ICT. Approval achieved from Govt Connect to access GSI. Lessons learned from experience and other organisations on data security. Breach of Data Protection Act Loss of reputation/financial penalties Loss of confidence from public Termination of Government Connect facility Disruption Impact of shared monitoring officer OR 08 Impact of shared monitoring officer The Shared Monitoring Officer works between Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils which has the potential to put pressure on staff thus impact the level and quality of services here at SBDC. The situation is kept under review by Director of Resources and Chief Exec with meetings as well as meeting with Chief executive of Chiltern District Council. Arrangement will draw to an end at end of year. Loss of quality of service Pressure on staff Loss of resident satisfaction/confidence due to loss of quality of services Inconvenience Managing demand on housing and housing benefit services during the recession SR09 Affordable Housing Resources (left risk matrix) & HS4 Increased demand for homeless persons accommodation (right risk matrix) Lack of sites and funding for affordable housing schemes especially in light of the current economic climate. The latter in particular is hard to predict. Work with partners to improve the provision of high quality services, suitable housing and other amenities. Keep property holding under review to identify potential sites. Implementation of Choice Based lettings Service, the BCC 12 Year Housing Plan for People with Support Needs, regular Affordable Housing and Homelessness Forums, and development and adoption of Empty Properties Project. Additional funding passed to Capita to help with increased caseload, caseload monitored on a weekly basis. 8

9 Budget pressure if temporary accommodation costs escalate. Reputational risk and external criticism from Govt if service standards fall substantially Failing to fulfil Corporate Objective - Partnership working and access to quality services High Chance; High Chance Inconvenience; Inconvenience Managing expectations of community safety with resources available from TVP Association SR06 Police Resourcing in South Bucks Fear of police resources directed to other parts of Thames Valley area. Reduce the level and fear of crime and make our community a safer place to live, work and visit. Maintain communications with police and lobby as appropriate. Community Safety and Thames Valley police are working closely on a number of issues and projects mentioned in the Community, Leisure and Communications Portfolio. Additional resources have been allocated through the Slough and South Bucks Integrated Offender Management Model which attempts to address cross border offending issues. A meeting is to be arranged for the Leader/Chief Executive to meet the Chief Constable to take up again issues of concern regarding Police resourcing in South Bucks. Fail to fulfil Corporate Objective Reduce Fear of Crime Loss of confidence from residents Loss of resident satisfaction Inconvenience Business continuity SR16 Business continuity due to loss of key facilities, systems or key staff. One of the risks that runs across a number of areas is business continuity, and in particular ICT business continuity. Vulnerability to loss of key staff through staff turnover or sickness. Deliver cost-effective services that are driven by customer and community needs. Personnel strategy to address issues such as recruitment & retentions and succession planning. Review of policies, job descriptions, staff benefits, induction procedures, allowances and working hours by Personnel and Training. Work has started with service managers to update their Service Impact Assessments and managers are also being requested to produce business continuity plans for their areas. With ending of Support Services procurement will need to explore alternative routes to improved resilience Adversely effect all Corporate Objectives Cause disruption Damage to reputation High Chance Catastrophic 9

10 Planning Enforcement & Inquiries OR Planning Enforcement & Inquiries Capacity to cope with increased numbers of enforcements and inquiries. This can be increased by the timetables for individual cases. Area kept under review for impact on workloads for sections involved. Members briefed and kept up to date on developments. Loss of confidence and satisfaction rating from residents if fail to protect what they see as important sights. Potential budget pressure due to increased use of external support. Inconvenience 5. Resources, Risk and Other Implications Resources Time taken to monitor progress against service plans performance targets and risks are useful tools to help monitor the progress the Council is making to improve council aims, improve service delivery, and deliver value for money services for residents. Financial Certain funding streams are related to the achievement of national targets within the new Local Area Agreement Legal The Council has to report against the new National Indicator set and contribute to the targets set out in the new Local Area Agreement. Risks issues No other relevant implications have been identified. 6. Recommendation a) Cabinet to review performance for the third quarter of this year and identify how to address the performance issues raised in the performance report b) and to review progress against service objectives. A number of detailed performance tables accompany this report: Appendix A Performance Monitoring of Priority Indicators (April Dec 2009) provides an overview of how priority monthly and quarterly indictors have progressed from the start of the year. Appendix B Performance Monitoring of all Indicators (April - Dec 2009) provides an update on all the Council s performance indicators (annual indicators are not included). Appendix C Performance Monitoring of all Service Actions (April Dec 2009) provides an overview of the service areas progress towards completing actions and projects (those outlined in their Service Plans) from the start of the year to be found on the intranet underneath Performance Reports on the A-Z. Officer Contact: Alex Rowland, , alex.rowland@southbucks.gov.uk Laura Sawyer, , laura.sawyer@southbucks.gov.uk Background Papers: 2009 Annual Report, SBDC, June 2009; National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships: Handbook of Definitions, CLG April